So you have a good business idea, have found your specific niche, did your keyword research and have registered a domain name. How do you go about getting a new website? This is actually getting increasingly easier now that the internet is really developing. There are lots of designers, good content management systems, many webhosting packages now include website builders and some sites even have tools that let you create your website for free. But before looking at you options for building your website let’s first discuss what is important in a good website.
Why do you need a good website?
Your website is the first impression of your business. On the web this is critically important as it is so easy to leave. If for some reason a visitor feels your website looks tacky, unprofessional or too cluttered they may leave in an instant.
If you want to create a website that generates profit you will need to have a professional look that will give the visitor the confidence that you know what you are doing. That they will need to know that they can trust you if they provide you with any personal information.
What is a good website?
In my opinion a good website:
- Features professional graphics
- Has a modern, current look
- Has a lot of good quality content
- Provides a form of interaction with the customer
- Is pleasing to look at and has the right balance in colours and graphics
- Has a clear navigation structure for easy browsing around the site
- Is not too cluttered
- Does not have any obvious mistakes
- Has clearly written copy with lots of lists like this one for easy browsing
- Needs to be fully up-datable by the owner to ensure frequent fresh content and interactivity
How to get a good quality website?
If you want to have a professional looking website you will either need the help of a designer and / or programmer or create your website from a pre-designed good quality template. You could also use a combination of the 2: work with a good template but enlist the help of a designer / programmer.
Good budget $1500+: contact a web designer and let him / her create the design and website. If you select the right person you will get a great looking website that is completely unique. It will also save you a lot of time and work.
Medium budget $100 – $1500: Get a good quality template and theme and depending on your skill level customize it yourself or have it customized for you. This can produce a high quality website that is still unique for your business, but using an existing template can save you lots of time in design and development.
No budget: Go to Weebly.com and create a website there. If you know what you are doing you can create good websites there but often they do look home made.
What kind of website should you get?
Unless you just want to create a 1 page product website, interactivity is the key to success. You will want to build a community and build a subscriber list. You will want a website that is easy to update so you can keep adding valuable content that will be picked up by the search engines. I currently advise customers to choose either a ProntaCMS or WordPress.org website.
Pronta CMS
This is Escala’s own CMS and the solution we advice for people who want to code as little as possible.
What are the benefits?
- Very affordable; if you only have a low budget you can can choose one of the free templates
- Fully customisable: if you have a bit of a budget you can add your own design or fully customize one of the free templates
- Lots of feature: image galleries, search, forms, calendars, wisiwig editor, movies, blog etc.
- Hosting is included so no need to set that up
- Can be fully optimised for search engines
Have a look at the Promta CMS website to find out more and determine if this is the right solution for you.
WordPress
WordPress is free software that you can download from the Internet. It was set up as blogging software but has grown to an application that allows you to create about any kind of website. The learning curve is a bit higher than Pronta but if you are willing to learn then you can create a very nice website.
What are the benefits?
- WordPress can be downloaded for free
- Lots of templates available but be sure to know what you need. You may want to read my article on the Business Web Strategy website: 20 things to check before buying a WordPress theme.
- Lots of free plugins available for extra functionality
- Search engine friendly
- Lots of support
Good luck with the creation of your website! If you need any help then ask your questions below or contact me.
I really appreciate that you keep coming back to my site, it's loyal people like you that make what I do worth it. If you have any questions feel free to email me or you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed so you never miss a post.
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Thanks to WordPress it’s extremely easy to create a website today. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different guides explaining how to do everything from installing to create new themes.
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